Mouthpiece cover for musical instruments



April 26, 1949. G, SHAW g MOUTHPIECE COVER FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS FiledApril 30, 1947 INVENTORS a BY 4 I ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 26, 1949MOUTHPIECE COVER FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS George Shaw, Brooklyn, SeverinoFrank Marino, New York, and Daniel Shaw, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application April 30, 1947, Serial No. 744,998

11 Claims.

The present invention relates to a device for musical instruments, andmore especially to a protective cover for the mouth-piece thereof.

The object of the present invention is to provide a device which isinexpensive to manufacture, simple in structure, durable in operation,and which may be applied to the mouthpiece of a musical instrument withgreat ease and celerity.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a protective coverfor the mouthpiece of wind instruments such as Saxophones, clarinets andthe like which may be quickly applied and removed therefrom without thepossibility of displacing or destroying the reed thereon.

Musicians in some of the bands play more than one instrument, and insome instances, it becomes necessary for the musician to change from oneinstrument to another during the same orchestration, and in so doing theinstruments must be ready to play immediately.

The reeds on the instruments must be very moist to produce sound,otherwise they are practically useless.

Attempts have been made to provide protective covering and moisteningdevices which were tubular types that slid over the end of themouthpiece and removed in the same manner, and it has been found thatwhen these covers are slid over the end of the mouthpleces theysometimes lift the end of the reed, and either displace or destroy it.There is considerable expense and loss of time in replacing damagedreeds at present, which the present invention obviates.

The present invention obviates these difficulties by providing aprotective cover which may be wrapped around the mouthpiece of a windinstrument or clamped to the end thereof.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be obvious asbrought out in following specification and claims.

Reference will be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specifiication in which simlar reference characters indicatecorresponding parts throughout the several views, in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional type of mouthpiece on awind instrument.

Fig. 2 is a preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing thewrap around cover in perspective,

Fig. 3 is a modified form of the cover,

Fig. 4 is a cross section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a moistening pad.

Referring to the drawings wherein we have shown by way of illustrationmerely, a fragmentary portion I0 adjacent the mouthpiece II, of a windinstrument such as a saxophone, clarinet or the like, wherein themouthpiece II consists of the reed l2 and the conventional clampingdevice or ligature I3, for properly positioning the reed I2 on themouthpiece I I.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in Fig.2, consists of a tubular protective cover I4, comprising a semitubularportion I5 hingedly secured to another semitubular portion I6 by aspring hinge I I, which normally hold the parts I5 and I6 in the closedposition as shown in Fig. 2.

The semitubular portion I 5 has secured thereon a plate I9 which holds amoistening pad 2|. The plate I9 is hinged to the semitubular portion I5as shown at 20.

The tube I4 has an annular flange I8 at the outer end thereof to fix theposition of the pad 2| in respect to the reed I 2, when the tube I4 iswrapped around the mouthpiece II.

In applying the protective cover It to the mouthpiece II of theinstrument In it is only necessary for the musician to take hold of theflange l8 and open the semitubular portions I5 and I6 and thence wrapthe tube around the mouthpiece II by bringing it up from underneath andthen closing the moistening pad 2I down on top of the reed I2.

If it is found desirable the hinge 26 may be a spring hinge to normallyhold the pad 2! against the reed I2, so that the slight pressure of thespring will press the pad 2| against the reed I2, thereby insuring acomplete moistening effect upon the reed I2.

A modified form of a protective cover is shown in Figs. 3 and 4, whereinin this instance the protective device comprises a clamp 22, consistingof a pair of rocking elements 23 and 2 3. The rocking element 23 has ajaw 25 at one end and an integral finger lever 21 at the other end. Thejaw 25 has a moistening pad 30 adhesively or otherwise secured to theinterior surface thereof. The rocking element 24 has a jaw 26 at one endand an integral finger lever 28 at the other end. The jaw 26 is shapedas shown at 32 to conform to the contour of the bottom of the mouthpieceI l.

The rocking elements 23 and 24 are connected by a spring 29 whichnormally holds the jaws 25 and 28 together. The jaws 25 and 28 may beopened by compressing the finger levers 2'! and 28 at one end of thejaws 25 and 26.

When the instrument is not being played, the protective clamp 22 issecured to the mouthpiece H and reed 12 by opening the jaws 25 and 2Band placing it on the mouthpiece l l and reed l2, so that the moisteningpad 3!) will rest upon the reed l2 and the cut out portion 32 of the jaw26 will conform to the contour of the bottom of the mouthpiece H.

In Fig. 5, we have shown a separate moistening pad 33 held on to a plate34 by means of the rolled over edges 35 of the plate 34. The moisteningpad 33 may be used in conjunction with the wrap around protective cover[4 as an alternate form when the pad 2| and plate 19 is left off of thecover M. In this instance the edges 36 and 3'! of the cover I4 may bebrought together to touch on a line diametrically opposite to the hingel7, and the pad is first placed upon the reed I2 before the protectivecover I 4 is wrapped around the mouthpiece H.

It will be seen that when the cover I4 is wrapped around the mouthpiecel I, the opening 38 in the cover M will lie on each side of the clampingscrews 39 of the clamp or ligature IS.

The novel feature of the present invention is to provide a protectivecover for musical wind instruments which may be quickly applied to themouthpiece thereof and quickly removed therefrom without endangering, orrupturing the reed thereof, which is so often the case, wherein a solidtubular cover is slid longitudinally over the end of the mouthpiecethereof.

It is very important, as brought out in the preamble of thisspecification, that the reed should be thoroughly saturated during anorchestration and the protective covers such as shown in Figs. 2, 3 and4 may be quickly removed from the mouthpiece of a wind instrumentwithout endangering, displacing or breaking of the reed,

so that the musician may change from one instrument to another duringthe same orchestration.

It will of course be understood that the present invention could bemodified to be applicable to wind instruments wherein the mouthpiece hasa reed on the top and bottom thereof by simply providing a protectivecover wherein there is secured a pad at the top and bottom thereof tocover a plurality of reeds.

We claim:

1. A protective cover for the mouthpiece of wind instruments comprising,a tube having a longitudinal hinge at the bottom thereof, a longitudinalopening diametrically opposite the aforesaid hinge, a flange at one endof said tube, and a plate carrying a moistening pad hingedly secured toone edge of the aforesaid opening and adjacent the aforesaid flange.

2. A protective cover for the mouthpiece of wind instruments comprising,a pair of rocking levers hingedly secured together with a pair of jawsat one end thereof and a pair of integral finger levers at the other endthereof, one jaw having a moistening pad secured thereto, the other jawhaving the inside thereof shapedto conform to the contour of the bottomof the mouthpiece of a wind instrument.

3. A protective cover for the mouthpiece of wind instruments having areed comprising, a tube longitudinally hinged at the bottom thereof, anopening diametrically opposite said hinge substantially half the lengthof said tube with the remaining half of said tube having its edgessubstantially abutting each other, a flange at the outer end of saidtube, and a separate moistening pad adapted to be placed upon the reedof the mouthpiece of said wind instrument before said tubular cover isplaced thereon.

4. A protective cover for the mouthpiece of wind instruments comprising,a tube having a longitudinal spring hinge at the bottom thereof, alongitudinal opening diametrically opposite the aforesaid hinge, aflange at one end of said tube, and a plate carrying a moistening padspring hingedly secured to one edge of the aforesaid opening andadjacent to the aforesaid flange.

5. A device of the kind described comprising, a pair of rocking levershingedly secured together With jaws at one end thereof integral fingerlevers at the other end thereof, one jaw having a moistening pad securedthereto, the other jaw having the inside thereof shaped to conform tothe bottom contour of the mouthpiece of a wind instrument.

6. A protective cover for the mouthpiece and reed of wind instrumentscomprising, a tube longitudinally spring hinged at the bottom thereof,and opening diametrically opposite said spring hinge substantially halfthe length of said tube with the remaining half of said tube having itsedges substantially abutting each other, a flange at the outer end ofsaid tube, and a separate moistening pad adapted to be placed upon thereed of the mouthpiece of said wind instrument before said tubular coveris placed thereon.

'7. A protective cover for the mouthpiece and reed of wind instrumentscomprising, a tube having two semi tubular parts longitudinally hingedthroughout the entire length of the bottom thereof, a longitudinalopening diametrically opposite the aforesaid hinge throughout the entirelength of said tube, a flange at one end of said tube, and a platecarrying a. moistening pad spring hingedly secured to one edge of theaforesaid opening and adjacent to the aforesaid flange.

8. A protective cover for the mouthpiece and reed of wind instruments,comprising, a tube having two semi tubular portions spring hingedlyconnected throughout the entire length of the bottom thereof, a turnedin flange at one end of said tube, a longitudinal slot in said tube whensaid tube is closed running the entire length of said tube anddiametrically opposite said hinged portion, a plate spring hingedlysecured to the edge of one semi tubular portion to the edge of thelongitudinal opening and adjacent to said flange, and a moistening padsecured to said plate and adapted to rest upon said reed with pressurewhen said tube is wrapped around said mouthpiece of said windinstrument.

9. A protective cover for a reed-equipped mouthpiece of wind musicalinstruments comprising a body having a plurality of parts hingedlysecured together, one part of said body carrying a moistening device toengage the reed and adapted to fit on the mouthpiece.

10. A protective cover for a reed-equipped mouthpiece of wind musicalinstruments comprising a body having a plurality of parts springhingedly securedtogether, one part of said body 5 carrying a moisteningdevice to engage the reed and adapted to fit on the mouthpiece.

11. A protective cover for a reed-equipped mouthpiece of Wind musicalinstruments comprising a body having a longitudinal hinge at the bottomthereof, an opening at one end of said body opposite said hingesubstantially half the length of said body with the remaining half ofsaid body opposite said hinge having edges substantially abutting eachother, a moistening device secured to one edge of said body to engagethe reed and adapted to fit on the mouthpiece.

GEORGE SHAW. SEVERINO FRANK MARINO. DANIEL SHAW.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number

